Friday, November 21, 2014

Jose Vasquez leaves a candle at the ghost bike memorial for
Andy Garcia, killed in a vicious hit-and-run last year.
Sahra Sulaiman/LA Streetsblog

In the last hours before the deadline for signing legislation from this year’s legislative session,
California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a batch of bills that could have improved safety for bicyclists, pedestrians, and other road users.

Included in the list of vetoes are three bills addressing the problem of hit-and-run crimes. Two of them would have increased penalties for convictions, and one would have made it easier to catch hit-and-run perpetrators. This brings to a total of four bills on the issue that passed both houses of the legislature with very few no votes—some unanimously—only to end up on the governor’s chopping block.

The governor’s general objection to creating new crime categories and increasing penalties was his excuse for declining these bills.

For similar reasons, Brown also vetoed Assemblymember Mark Levine’s “vulnerable user” bill that would have defined bicyclists and pedestrians, and a few other groups, as a special category of road users, and raised fines for conviction of violations that result in injury to them.

Another bill vetoed today was one that would have assessed a violation point against a driver’s record if convicted of using a cell phone or texting while driving. A second provision of the bill, requiring the Department of Motor Vehicles to include at least one question on the driver’s license exam addressing the dangers of distracted driving, may happen anyway. Brown, in his veto message [PDF], writes that he has directed the DMV to add such a question.

Here’s a list of bills [originated by Assemblymember Mike Gatto] that would have made the roads safer but were axed by the Governor:

A.B. 1532, from Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles), which would have required an automatic six-month license suspension for anyone convicted of a hit-and-run collision in which a person was hit, whether that person was injured or not. Assemblymember Gatto’s intent was to enforce the notion that people must stop when they are involved in a crash, no matter what. The governor disagreed, citing his usual reluctance to create new categories of crime and stiffen penalties. “I don’t find sufficient justification for creating a new crime when no injury to person or property occurred. I think the current law is adequate,” says his veto message [PDF].

A.B. 47, also from Gatto, which would have created a new “Yellow Alert” system, similar to the existing Amber Alert that broadcasts information about child abductions quickly throughout the state. The Yellow Alert would have broadcast descriptions of vehicles suspected of being involved in hit-and-run crimes using freeway changeable message signs and other outlets to help law enforcement apprehend criminals who leave the scene of a collision. Governor Brown refused to sign this bill because of another bill, which he did sign, that adds developmentally disabled people to the groups for which the Amber Alert system can be used. “This expansion should be tested before adding more categories of individuals that could overload the system,” he wrote [PDF]. It’s doubtful that the families and friends of hit-and-run victims would agree that this wait-and-see approach is sensible.

You can read this complete article and more at Streetsblog LA by clicking HERE

GLENDALE — The Republic of Armenia has awarded Assemblymember Mike
Gatto (D-Los Angeles) the Mkhitar Gosh Medal in recognition of his
contributions to strengthening U.S.-Armenia relations and many years of
dedicated service on behalf of the Armenian-American community. The
President of Armenia, Serzh Sarkisian, announced the award, which is
named in honor of the noted twelfth century Armenian clergyman, writer,
and codifier of the Armenian civil and canon laws...

“...Pursuant to paragraph 16, article 55 of the Constitution of the
Republic of Armenia, and guided by the Law of the Republic of Armenia on
State Awards, I hereby decree: To award Mike Gatto, California State
Assemblymember, the Mkhitar Gosh Medal for his contribution in
strengthening and developing the Armenia-U.S. friendly relations and
many years of dedication to Armenian issues.” said President Sarkisian.

Assemblyman Gatto has been a tireless advocate for Armenian issues
such as the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, which resulted in the
death of more than 1,500,000 ethnic Armenians at the hands of the
Ottoman Empire. He has authored or co-authored ten different bills
recognizing the Armenian Genocide, requesting proper inclusion of the
genocide in high school-history curriculum, and calling on the Congress
and the President of the United States to do the same. Among them is AB
173 (2011), which allows the families of victims of the Armenian
Genocide to file claims in California on insurance policies issued
during the genocide, helping Armenian Americans achieve justice for
their relatives.

This year, Gatto took bold action on behalf of the ethnically
Armenian people of Artsakh, a region in the Southern Caucasus that was
illegally severed from Armenia and placed under Soviet-Azerbaijani
control in 1921. Seventy years later, the people of Artsakh held
democratic elections and formally declared independence as the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Assemblyman Mike Gatto authored AJR 32, which
made California the most populous entity in the world to recognize the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and called upon the United States government
to do the same. After successfully passing the State legislature, AJR 32
was transmitted to Congress and President Obama.

“It is a privilege to advocate on behalf of the U.S.-Armenia
relationship and to work so closely with leaders in the
Armenian-American community. I have always believed that all people have
the right to safety and self-determination. These rights must be
protected, and the legacy of those killed in the centuries-old
oppression of Armenian peoples must not be forgotten.”

To read this article and explore other important Armenian issues and causes click HERE